eBay have now enabled extended Christmas returns for sellers who wish to opt in. With extended returns you give buyers until 31 January to return any eligible item purchased between 1 November and 31 December.
If you’re an eBay Top-rated seller and you offer eBay Premium Service, any eligible listings that are excluded from Christmas returns will not benefit from your usual discounts and benefits, including your final value fee discount – your eBay Premium Service badge will also be removed. Your eligible listings will receive eBay Premium Service discounts and benefits again as of 1 January.
We know that many Tamebay readers will shudder at the thought of extending returns for a three month period. However from a buyer’s perspective it does give some reassurances. Last Christmas I purchased an electical item for my next door neighbour and the packaging was intact and showing no signs of damage. However when she opened it on Christmas day the product inside was damaged. In my case the seller was great and although they queried why it had taken a month to contact them as soon as I explained it was a Christmas present only just opened they arranged an exchange instantly.
By offering extended returns buyers will know that they have peace of mind for any exchanges or refunds for unwanted presents. Unfortunately from a seller’s perspective it does mean that some Christmas presents will be sent back for a refund, but if it increases sales by more than the rate of refunds it’s probably worthwhile. Only you can decide for your business.
Remember that you don’t have to offer Christmas returns on all of your listings, you can exclude certain ones. You can do this on your individual listings, or if you’re at an eBay Top-rated seller at an account level, go to your bulk listing tool and specify which listings you’d like to apply the extended Christmas returns option to.
To sign up to Extended returns all you need to is to to your eBay account (don’t forget to log in and apply to each of your eBay accounts if you sell on more than one eBay user ID).
14 Responses
I’m afraid I won’t be opting in for this, I have a feeling a lot of buyers will abuse this function.
For example Clothing, people would wear for the whole of the christmas period and january then return just before the 31st january for a refund.
It just isn’t worth it, I hate returns at the best of times let alone 2 months worth.
fortunately this decision has been taken out of hands ,as ebay have decided were not TRS due to being 2.37 defective LOL
Under what circumstances does this post Xmas return not count as a defect or not count for FVF refund? I am assuming buyer pays return postage (rightly or wrongly?).
There is talk on the power seller forums at eBay that defects would also be extended until 31st January.
Can you confirm if this is the case?
If it is, I don’t want to have an INR at the end of January from 1st November! As the seller above suggested, this is wide open to abuse. Don’t get me wrong if it were just returns we would be fine but to extend the time to get hit by defects is a worry.
I couldn’t get that eBay hyperlink to open properly.
It took me to an eBay “Page Not Responding” page.
I tried a Google search for it and found the “feature” would have to be activated on a listing level and not an account level.
I then searched for it in Linnworks to see if I could enable it across the board with a few simple clicks but couldn’t find such a feature. So it looks like the eBay Bulk Listing Tool is the answer unless a Linnworks (Linnlive) user knows how to do it?
On another point Chris (Dawson), is it possible to have all your hyperlinks open in a new tab?
This is about the only site I use where the hyperlink opens up in the same window unless I right click and choose Open In New Tab.
I can’t imagine many people objecting to links opening up in new tabs so as not to loose one’s place in the Tamebay thread.
But I could be wrong and I’m the only one who would appreciate it. Comments?
I have turned this on , do I need to go and do this for every item I have listed now or is it at an account level ,
I going to add 500 new products in the next week or two , will these automatically be enrolled or will I have to them separately ?
The policy wording is incorrect. It asks sellers to opt in until 31 Dec yet displays, as you’d expect, as 31 Jan. A little glitch eBay may or may not be aware of. .
IMO, the whole integration process could have been done better.